UPDATE (1/13/23): Jesse Huy has been sentenced to life in prison.

Huy was sentenced to three consecutive life in prison terms with no parole. He was also sentenced to nine years for the three armed criminal action charges, which will be served consecutively.

Original Story

SPRINGFIELD, Mo – A jury had been seated and opening statements in the murder trial of Jesse Huy were to begin today when the defendant changed his plea and admitted guilt in the murders of his wife and parents-in-law.

According to the Greene County prosecutor’s office, Huy changed his plea to guilty without a plea agreement on three counts of first-degree murder.

He is to be sentenced on Jan. 13, 2023.

Huy was arrested on March 20, 2021, after he called Greene County dispatch to say he had murdered his wife Tonya and her parents, Ronald and Linda Koehler.

Asked why he shot the three, he told a dispatcher, “Well, they wouldn’t leave, I’ve been waiting for a week for them to leave, and they wouldn’t leave. I’ve had enough.”

Court documents then say Huy told dispatchers he would not fight or resist authorities when they arrived. When deputies got to the scene, they arrested Huy, and he said, “I got tired of it and killed all three of them.”

Court records say the home where the family was murdered was a modular home with a basement, with each level only having access from the outside. Deputies found the three bodies in the basement section of the home; each victim had multiple gunshot wounds.

Another man was on the scene; he was identified as Huy’s father, identified in court documents as H.H.

H.H. lived in the top portion of the home.

During an interview with a Greene County investigator, Huy said he shot each victim twice in the head and told the investigator he lost his temper.

According to a probable cause statement, Huy said his wife Tonya had undergone back surgery recently and her parents came from Louisiana to help her with her recovery. Huy told the investigator that he was upset and felt the parents had been disrespectful. Huy said Linda stayed at the modular home while Ronald returned to an RV parked at a nearby trailer park.

“Her mom moved in on me, and (Ronald Koehler) would just come and show up at the house whenever,” Huy told the investigator.

Huy then said he felt intruded on and that Linda knew her staying at the house-made Huy unhappy.

Court documents say Huy was upset that he wanted his in-laws to leave and said Tonya wasn’t taking his side. He told the investigator he and Tonya had talked a few times about her parents leaving, and she would defend them being at the house. She also told Huy that half of the house belonged to her and that her parents could stay as long as they liked.

According to court records, Huy said leading up to the shooting; he asked her parents to leave around 5 p.m. His wife then said they could stay. Huy then told the investigator he went outside, got his gun, and shot them each in the head twice. Huy told the investigator the whole incident happened in under one minute.